recourse

[ree-kawrs, -kohrs, ri-kawrs, -kohrs]

noun

1. access or resort to a person or thing for help or protection.

   to have recourse to the courts for justice.

2. a person or thing resorted to for help or protection.

3. the right to collect from a maker or endorser of a negotiable instrument. The endorser may add the words “without recourse” on the instrument, thereby transferring the instrument without assuming any liability.

recourse

/ rɪˈkɔːs /

noun

1. the act of resorting to a person, course of action, etc, in difficulty or danger (esp in the phrase have recourse to )

2. a person, organization, or course of action that is turned to for help, protection, etc

3. the right to demand payment, esp from the drawer or endorser of a bill of exchange or other negotiable instrument when the person accepting it fails to pay

4. a qualified endorsement on such a negotiable instrument, by which the endorser protects himself or herself from liability to subsequent holders

Word History and Origins

Origin of recourse¹

1350–1400; Middle English recours < Old French < Late Latin recursus, Latin: return, retreat, noun use of past participle of recurrere to run back; recur

Word History and Origins

Origin of recourse¹

C14: from Old French recours , from Late Latin recursus a running back, from _re- + currere to run

Example Sentences

There is little other recourse to challenge the outcome.

Read more on Salon

They face personal legal exposure, and since U.S. courts lack jurisdiction, there is no recourse if the book refuses a legitimate payout.

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This recourse is a case study in what happens when political aspiration and economic realities collide.

Read more on Barron's

As their funds were contractually stuck inside Scion Capital for some time, the investors’ only recourse was to send him disturbed-sounding e-mails asking him to justify his new strategy.

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Deputy Solicitor General Hashim Mooppan persuasively argued that, under the challengers’ theory, white Democrats in Louisiana would have no recourse to a second district, while black Democrats would—because of race.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• remedy